Currently, a driver driving a automobile, truck, sport utility vehicle, trailer or other motor equipped conveyance relies primarily on what can be seen through the front windshield and side windows, of the vehicle as well as rear and side view mirrors. As all drivers are aware, even utilizing the aforementioned items does not provide a complete field of view, leading to perilous blind spots within which other vehicles, people or other objects might be present unbeknownst to the driver, resulting in a high risk of accident. Presently, there are known wide angle mirrors which seek to eliminate blind spots, however, these mirrors are known to distort the field of view so as to make it difficult to accurately access the distance between the driver's vehicle and the object seen in the wide angle mirror. These devices also require that the driver's eyes be averted from looking in the direction the vehicle is going. That is, the driver needs to glance at one or more of the mirrors to gain an idea of surrounding vehicle traffic or other objects or obstacles. Additionally, the driver also relies on the use of a horn or other warning signal by another vehicle or object in a blind spot so that should the vehicle begin to move in such a way as to threaten an object in a blind spot, the object can give an audible warning signal to driver to discontinue moving in that particular direction.
There are also known bumper mounted devices which detect the presence of objects directly behind the vehicle so that when in reverse a sensor detects the presence of an object and emits a warning tone to alert the driver to the presence of an object unseen directly behind the vehicle. These devices generally provide for a tone that increases in frequency or pitch as the distance between the object and the vehicle decreases, or the tone chirps or alternates between an on and off state, the chirping or alternation increasing in frequency as the vehicle approaches the object. Such devices, however, provide no detection of objects that are behind the vehicle and off to the side, either on the driver or passenger side, and which, when the vehicle is moving forward, would commonly be identified as the traditional blind spot. Other systems exist to provide a beep or other audible signal when an object is in the driver's side blind spot, as well as in front of the vehicle, but give no directional indication.
Thus, the prior art presently possesses no solution for the problem of alerting a driver of a vehicle to the presence of, and the relative position of objects in proximity to the vehicle being driven without the use of mirrors or the like which require the driver to take his eyes from the road.